Chapter 90 Deep Within the Crypt

While Honey Queen and Dezaya were bickering, Kaguya remained silent, staring at the bottomless pit before them.

Tashigi noticed Kaguya’s unusual behavior and reached out to touch him.

“Kaguya, what’s wrong?”

The others all turned their gaze toward Kaguya as well.

“Do you hear any sound?”

Kaguya stared into the cave, his brow furrowed.

The group fell silent for a moment, listening intently, but the surroundings remained deathly quiet.

“A sound? I don’t hear anything. Did you guys hear it?”

“No, I didn’t hear anything either.”

“Master~”

“What kind of sound are you talking about?~”

“It couldn’t be an illusion, could it?”

“It’s not an illusion. The sound is coming from this hole; something is calling to me.”

“I need to go down and take a look.”

Kaguya’s brow was tightly knit. He didn’t know why the girls couldn’t hear it when he could.

But in this situation, if they wanted to leave this place, perhaps only by going down to investigate could they find a way.

Faint, indistinct growls echoed from deep within the cave, as if an ancient calling was lingering in Kaguya’s ears.

He gripped onikiri tightly, his gaze fixed resolutely on the darkness.

“It’s too dangerous!”

Tashigi grabbed his sleeve.

“The situation below is unknown, what if…”

“Don’t worry, if anything feels wrong, I’ll fly back up immediately.”

“Perhaps the way to leave this undersea world lies deep within this cave.”

Kaguya patted the back of Tashigi’s hand to reassure her.

“I’ll go down with you. If there’s danger, I can bring you back up instantly.”

Nojiko stepped forward, standing firmly by Kaguya’s side.

“I want to go too!”

“Me too.”

Dezaya and Honey Queen spoke in unison, their eyes filled with determination.

“You two stay up here; Nojiko and I will go down.”

“If there are too many people, it’ll be harder to escape if danger arises.”

“But…”

“Be good.”

Seeing Kaguya’s serious expression, the two women could only nod.

“Be careful.”

Tashigi whispered her instructions, her eyes full of worry.

Kaguya nodded and exchanged a glance with Nojiko, and the two of them leaped into the cave in perfect sync.

The moment they fell, a chilling wind brushed against their faces, and a faint, weak glow shimmered on the surrounding rock walls, like some unknown mineral.

Nojiko held Kaguya and unfurled her half-beast form wings to slow their descent.

As they went deeper, Kaguya felt the low growls in his ears become clearer, as if some slumbering giant beast was awakening.

An open space gradually appeared at the bottom of the cave, with Glowing Stones embedded in the rock walls, providing a faint light source for this Underworld.

The ground was covered in massive skeletons; a single curved rib was over ten meters long, clearly belonging to some ancient giant beast.

“This place… is practically an underground graveyard.”

Nojiko whispered, her wings slightly retracted.

After the two landed, clusters of eerie blue Ghost Fires suddenly ignited in the underground space.

Nojiko alertly shielded Kaguya behind her, her wings fully extended in a combat stance.

Those Ghost Fires floated and drifted through the air as if they were alive.

“Don’t be nervous, these are just phosphorescent fires.”

Kaguya spoke softly to reassure her, though his gaze remained fixed on the depths of the cave.

The ghostly blue flames outlined a winding path in the darkness, leading to an even gloomier place.

“Let’s follow these Ghost Fires and head inside. I feel like the sound is coming from over there.”

The two slowly moved along the path guided by the Ghost Fires, the skeletons beneath their feet making a tooth-aching cracking sound.

The air was thick with the scent of decay and antiquity, as if time had stood still here for thousands of years.

As they went deeper, the number of Glowing Stones on the rock walls increased, and the ghostly blue light reflected throughout the cave like a dreamscape.

“Kaguya, do you smell that?”

Nojiko, who had a sensitive sense of smell, twitched her nose twice.

“Smell what?”

Kaguya only smelled the scent of decay.

“It’s very fragrant, and a bit sweet…”

Nojiko described it vaguely.

Kaguya sniffed carefully but still couldn’t smell anything.

“I don’t smell anything, but if there really is something, it should be up ahead.”

“We’ll know once we go see.”

The two continued forward, and soon a larger underground space appeared before them.

The massive underground space was brightly lit by Glowing Stones, and in the center of the space was a crimson Blood Pool twenty meters in diameter.

Twelve stone pillars carved with ancient runes stood around the pool, each with a crystal emitting a dark red light floating at its top.

After approaching the Blood Pool, Kaguya also smelled the scent Nojiko had just described.

The cloyingly sweet fragrance in the air was precisely emanating from the Blood Pool.

And after seeing the Blood Pool, the voice that had been calling him in his ear vanished.

“Kaguya, look!”

“Is that a Devil Fruit!”

Nojiko pointed to the center of the Blood Pool, where a strange fruit, entirely crimson and covered in golden patterns, was floating above the pool, slowly rotating.

The fruit was surrounded by a faint red halo, pulsating as if it were alive.

“There’s actually a Devil Fruit here? Could it be the one calling me?”

As if in response to Kaguya’s words, the red halo surrounding the Devil Fruit began to contract and expand.

“I’ll go get it for you!”

Nojiko spread her wings and flew toward the Devil Fruit, but in the next second, a bizarre scene occurred.

Nojiko suddenly stopped exactly one meter away from the Devil Fruit, as if she were bound by something, unable to move forward or backward.

The wings on her back also stopped flapping.

“Nojiko! What’s wrong!”

Nojiko gave no response whatsoever to Kaguya’s call.

“Damn it!”

Kaguya flew over using Moonwalk, and the moment he grabbed Nojiko’s right foot, he exerted sudden force, dragging her back from the invisible restraint.

The two fell heavily onto the edge of the Blood Pool, and Nojiko looked at Kaguya in confusion.

“Why did you pull me back?”

“Huh? You were motionless over the Blood Pool just now, as if you were frozen by some kind of power.”

Kaguya explained with a frown.

“I called you but you didn’t react, so I pulled you back.”

Nojiko showed a puzzled expression.

“Strange, I clearly remember that I was just about to touch the fruit…”

Kaguya frowned upon hearing this.

“You don’t remember anything?”

Nojiko shook her head.

“So bizarre. Fine, I’ll go give it a try.”

Kaguya looked at the Devil Fruit above the Blood Pool, gritted his teeth, and rushed over using Moonwalk.

To Kaguya’s surprise, however, he actually grabbed the Devil Fruit without any hindrance.

The moment he touched the Devil Fruit, a fragment of memory suddenly flooded into Kaguya’s mind.

…

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